Original Sin
by adropletofjupiter
Summary: PJ fic. Joey Goes to Paris, but when she returns she finds Capeside is a very different experience. chapter 1 posted.
1. Chapter 1

**_This story starts in the beginning of season two, Dawson and Joey are dating. That's really all you need to know. The Song is By Elton John, lyrics supplied by I don't own Dawsons creek or any of the characters apart from Bernice. _**

_**Original Sin**_

**_Prologue  
_**  
_Oh, it's carnival night  
And they're stringing the lights around you  
Hanging paper angels  
Painting little devils on the roof_

Oh the furnace wind  
Is a flickering of wings about your face  
In a cloud of incense  
Yea, it smells like Heaven in this place

I can't eat, can't sleep  
Still I hunger for you when you look at me  
That face, those eyes  
All the sinful pleasures deep inside

Tell me how, you know now, the ways and means of getting in  
Underneath my skin,  
Oh you were always my original sin  
And tell me why, I shudder inside, every time we begin  
This dangerous game  
Oh you were always my original sin

A dream will fly  
The moment that you open up your eyes  
A dream is just a riddle  
Ghosts from every corner of your life

Up in the balcony  
All the Romeo's are bleeding for your hand  
Blowing theatre kisses  
Reciting lines they don't understand

Joey Potter Got out of bed and walked sleepily to the kitchen table. It was six thirty and she had plenty of chores to do around the house before she could even think about getting ready for school; Alexander had been screaming all night and she just wished that she could crawl back into her bed and sleep for a hundred years.

"Morning Joey," Bessie said, walking in the kitchen with Alexander hanging off her hip

"It's morning but it's not good; mornings are never good these days," she complained, pouring some coffee into her battered yellow mug.

"Now what are you so grumpy about?"

"Rosemary's baby is why i'm so grumpy," she told her, narrowing her eyes at her sister. She loved Alex, she would never deny that she did, but sometimes she just wished that he could stay quiet for one moment during the night.

"He can't help it Joey, he's just a baby,"

"Do you even realise that I have a French test today, a maths quiz and an English assignment to turn in that I haven't even written yet?"

"Well whose fault is that?"

"Yours actually since you come to mention it," she narrowed her eyes at her and stormed out the kitchen. "I'm so sick of my life! I'm sick of cleaning up all the time and working every night. I'm sick of getting no sleep, I'm sick of Dawson crowding me all the time. Sometimes I wish that I could just leave!" She exploded, slumping down on the couch and placing her hand over her head.

"Are you finished being dramatic?"

"Yes,"

"Good, because I need you to put out the trash,"

"Is there anything you would like Cinderella to do? Maybe I could clean the gutters or arrange all of the refrigerator magnets by colour?" she said, sarcasm biting at her every word.

"Joey," Bessie said sitting down beside her. "Look I know things are hard but things can only get better. Right little sis?"

"Well they could get better or much, much worse," Joey grumbled.

"Cheer up," Bessie told her, standing up and walking over to the coffee table. "A letter came for you yesterday,"

"For me?" Joey asked confused, taking it from her sister and opening it.

"For you," Bessie walked away and left her to her mail.

Joey took the letter from the envelope and scanned her eyes over it for a moment, it read;

Dear Miss Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that the international scholarship programme has put your name forward as a candidate. The program requires three students from across Massachusetts to participate in an exchange with students in Paris, France.

This scholarship includes a placement with a French student of the same age and will give you the rare opportunity to experience one area of culture that you share an interest in. The placement is eighteen months long and will require that the candidate participates in the second eighteen months of the project by arranging accommodation for the French students visit to the United States.

If you are interested in our proposition, and wish to take advantage of this rare opportunity please contact your schools head of foreign language as soon as possible so that you have the best possible chance of being in the lucky three able to participate.

Yours Sincerely,

Mr. A. G. Reynolds

Joey glanced at the letter one more time to make sure she was reading it correctly. It was an excellent opportunity, but was she really prepared to leave all her friends and family behind for well over a year?


	2. Chapter 2

_Notes; Italics flashback_

**Original Sin**

**Part One**

**18 months.**

_Eighteen months Later_

Joey Potter stood in the place that had been her bedroom for the past eighteen months and packed her belongings into a suitcase. She picked up a picture that stood beside her bed and looked at it; it had been taken the night before she left for Paris and was a vivid reminder of that last night in Capeside.

"_So what do we watch next?" Jen asked Dawson, sitting on his bed beside Joey eating popcorn._

"_Joey?" Dawson turned to her and looked at her for instruction. His look was a little cold; ever since Joey had told him that she was going away and broken off their relationship he had been a little bitter. However, he was still one of her best friends and he wasn't going to let his bitterness get in the way of her last night._

"_For old time's sake I vote for ET," she said looking around the room and moans and Groans from Pacey and Jen._

"_Do we really have to watch that again?" Pacey asked her, turning his head around from his position on the floor_

"_Yeah," Agreed Jen "It's overrated,"_

"_Well put it this way; we won't be able to watch it together for a year and a half," she told them._

"_Fine," Pacey breathed, getting up and putting hid hand out to accept it from Joey. She handed it over to him and he took it, gently letting his fingers linger on her skin for a moment. "One last time folks," Pacey smiled weakly and put the tape into the machine._

"_Hi Guys," Mitch Leery said as he walked through the door with a camera. "I just thought that since it was Joey's last night we should take a few shots for the family album,"_

"_Sure," Joey said smiling happily with a sorrowful tear in her eye. Ever since she was a little girl she had always been part of the Leery's family album and it was strange to think that this may be one of the last pictures of her. _

_Pacey pressed the pause button on the video and stood up from his position on the floor, making his way over to the window with the rest of them. Joey stood between Pacey and Dawson with one arm round each waist whilst they both slung an arm around her shoulder; Jen stood beside Dawson and put her arm around his waist also. They all squeezed into each other and put on wide smiles as Mitch took the picture. _

Joey looked down at the picture and looked at herself eighteen months ago in that blue snowflake sweater that she always wore, and her jeans. She had changed so much since then. Much to her annoyance she had grown another inch onto her already tall frame and towered over most of the boys at her French high school. Her time in France living with Bernice had certainly taught her a few things about being a woman, one of which was the importance of not hiding her figure.

"Are you almost ready?" Bernice asked, walking in the door and throwing her suitcase on Joey's Bed. Bernice was a shorter than Joey, standing at only five foot three; she had long red hair with natural ringlets that she always said she hated, even when everyone knew that's he secretly loved them. Her voice was laced with a thick French accent that was normal in France; In Capeside it was as appealing as walking around town naked.

"Almost finishing packing up my life," She said sadly, looking around the place that had been her home. The bright yellow walls looked empty without her pictures and it was easy to pretend that it had been empty forever.

"Do you have your prize possession?" Bernice asked mockingly.

"Stop calling it that," she requested, pointing at the pendant that hung from her neck. "And its right here,"

"Can I see the picture again?"

"If you must," Joey sighed, opening the locket and showing her a picture of Pacey.

"He's cute, no?"

"He's-- an idiot most of the time,"

"But cute?"

"Yeah-- Pacey is cute,"

Joey thought back to her last night in Capeside again; the possession that Bernice always referred to as her prize possession was probably the cheapest going away present, but definitely the most personal.

"_What are you doing out here?" Joey asked Pacey as she walked into Dawsons back garden with a glass of milk. Pacey sat outside on the back steps gazing up at the full moon. It was what would be her last night in Capeside for eighteen months and she couldn't sleep; all she wanted to do was go outside and look at what she was leaving behind. _

"_Star gazing-- I couldn't sleep," he explained. _

"_Are you okay? You seemed a little quiet tonight,"_

"_I did?"_

"_Yeah-- allot less obnoxious than usual," she joked, nudging his side with her elbow gently. _

"_How long until you leave now?"_

"_Six hours," she told him, gazing at her watch. "What's wrong Pacey?"_

"_I don't think you would be that interested in what i'm thinking to be honest with you,"_

"_What do you mean?"_

"_Ok," Pacey took a deep breath. "You'll think about Dawson allot when you're in Paris because he's Dawson Leery. And you'll think about Jen because you'll want to know what she's up to with Dawson… i'm just not sure that your mind will think about Pacey Witter too much,"_

"_Do you honestly think that I won't miss you just as much as I miss him? Because I will," she told him, putting her hand on top of his. "I'm going to tell you something and it's quite embarrassing, but I think that its time you heard it… when I'm sad, or angry, or upset I always think of you and the thought of you always makes me feel a little bit better,"_

"_Why? Because you reckon that my life is a little worse?" Pacey said, looking down at the ground. _

"_No. Because you cheer me up even if you just make me forget why i'm upset by annoying me," she admitted._

"_So annoyance is a useful tool?" he questioned lightly, looking at her and shooting her a typical Witter smile._

"_Very,"_

"_Look. I got you a present and I was going to give you it tonight-- but then I thought better of it,"_

"_What is it?" she asked._

"_Well," Pacey dove into his pocket and took out a plastic box with a faded golden trim. "It only cost me fifteen bucks to be honest with you so it's not that much of a big deal. But I saw it and I thought that you would like it so…" Pacey trailed his sentence off and handed it to her. _

_Joey opened the box and found a small, golden coloured locket inside. _

"_It's really pretty Pace, thank you," she smiled, placing a soft kiss on his cheek which made him blush._

"_It'll probably turn your neck green," he told her._

"_Green is my favourite colour," she joked._

"_Look, I put something in it for you… just in case you thought about forgetting me at any time," Pacey said, leaning over and opening it to reveal two pictures of himself. "And if you lose them you can always just call and ask for more and ill send them right on over for you," he joked._

"_I will not forget you, I promise," _

"_Oh but do you pinkie promise?" Pacey asked, sticking his little finger into the air._

"_Pacey," Joey laughed. "We haven't made pinkie promises since we were seven,"_

"_Well I just think that this occasion calls for a pinkie promise moment,"_

"_Ok," she smiled, connecting her little finger with his. "It's a pinkie promise-- I will not forget you as long as you promise me something,"_

"_What?"_

"_That you will never replace me as your verbal sparring partner,"_

"_That is a promise," _

"_So, are you going to put this present on for me?" she asked him, handing him the necklace. _

"_Sure," he smiled, taking the pendant from her and standing behind her, fastening it, before rearranging her hair neatly again. "There,"_

"_Come on we better go inside," She said, holding up her hand to him for him to help her up. _

"_Hey Jo?" Pacey asked, pulling her up and walking through the kitchen with her._

"_Yeah?"_

"_Don't let any of those French guys break your heart or anything,"_

"_They wouldn't dare,"_

"_Too right, because you can just tell them that if they do I'll be on the first plane over there to teach them that a can of whoop-ass is a universal language,"_

"_I'll let them know," She smiled. "You hug me now," she ordered._

"_Ok," Pacey said wrapping his arms around her and holding her tightly for a few moments. "Oh and just remember that those French kisses are nothing compared to Pacey kisses,"_

"_Well never having a Pacey kiss I wouldn't now," she said looking up at him in the dark of the night._

"_Well I offered it all on a plate for you and you turned it down remember?"_

"_Yes I remember. So I'll just have to presume that a Pacey kiss is better than a French kiss any day of the week?"_

"_Well I would be more than willing to help you compare the two when you get back,"_

"_Ok," Joey said, breaking away from him and heading up the stairs to the bedroom where everyone else slept._

"_What?" he asked following her closely._

"_You and me. Eighteen months from now on the docks,"_

"_Fine,"_

"_Good,"_

"_I'll hold you to it," he said, following her into the bedroom. _

"_Promise?" she asked, turning to him._

"_I promise,"_

Joey snapped out of her thoughts and looked around the bedroom to check that she had everything. She closed up her suitcase and placed it on the floor.

"Come on," She said, turning to Bernice. "Time to introduce you to my world for a change,"

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End file.
